California Democrat calls for Sen. Dianne Feinstein to resign
Senator Dianne Feinstein during an event in 2020. (Senate Democrats/Flickr)
April 12, 2023
The calls for Dianne Feinstein to resign are growing, and they’re coming from within the Democratic party.
Feinstein has been absent from the Senate since contracting shingles in late February. She has since been released from the hospital, but her prolonged absence has resulted in her missing 58 votes as of Monday, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) on Wednesday called on the 89-year-old senior senator from California to step down.
“It’s time for @SenFeinstein to resign,” Khanna tweeted.
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“We need to put the country ahead of personal loyalty. While she has had a lifetime of public service, it is obvious she can no longer fulfill her duties. Not speaking out undermines our credibility as elected representatives of the people.”
Feinstein’s prolonged absence from the Senate has halted the process of confirming President Joe Biden’s judicial appointees, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) told CNN earlier this week.
“I can’t consider nominees in these circumstances because a tie vote is a losing vote in committee,” Durbin said.
Feinstein was first elected to the Senate in 1992 and announced earlier this year that she does not plan to seek reelection.
Khanna is at least the second high-profile figure in Democratic circles to call for Feinstein’s resignation in as many days.
Jon Lovett, a speechwriter in the Obama administration who now co-hosts the podcast “Pod Save America,” on Tuesday called for Feinstein to step down.